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Easy Living to launch 2005 with Vogue's Forbes to edit

LONDON - Conde Nast will launch its new grown-up women's title Easy Living in the first half of 2005 and has raided its own fashion bible Vogue to find an editor.

Vogue's deputy editor Susie Forbes will join as editor, while the National Magazine Company's Chris Hughes will join as publisher, as revealed on Brand Republic last week.

Forbes has been with Conde Nast since 1995 and has also worked for Hachette Filipacchi and Emap, while Hughes is currently publisher of Good Housekeeping at NatMags. He has also published Country Living and Esquire.

The new title, Easy Living, which has been described as a cross between middle-youth women's title Red, Good Housekeeping and BBC Magazines Eve, will target ABC1 and C2 women aged 30-59. According to Conde Nast, there are more than 6m women in this key market and the sector is expected to grow by 8% over the next 10 years.

The magazine will be a "fusion of style, glamour and practical, real-life issues" and is designed to "improve every aspect of modern women's lives" including food, fashion, health and beauty, the home and relationships. It is understood that the publisher is currently talking to a number of advertising agencies about the launch.

Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Conde Nast, said: "Easy Living is an original, smart, useful and relevant concept with wide appeal, and we expect to achieve an initial circulation between 150,000 and 200,000. We have a crack team of editor and publisher in place, and the launch marketing will be aggressive. It is the right magazine at the right time."

Conde Nast says it does not know who will replace Forbes at Vogue. Liz Kershaw, who currently oversees Good Housekeeping and Country Living, will assume Hughes' publishing duties at NatMags until a replacement is found.

Conde Nast's most recent launch was Glamour in 2001, which had a circulation of 582,690 and recorded a 8.4% rise in the latest set of ABCs. Meanwhile, rival Cosmopolitan's circulation fell, dipping to 460,655 as the women's lifestyle sector as a whole was on the up.

According to Conde Nast research, Easy Living's target market spent more than £6.4bn on fashion, £1.4bn on skincare and cosmetics and £46bn on food in the past year.

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